- 2 weeks ago
Cartel Wars, corruption, and fear: DW spoke exclusively with hitmen, politicians and family members about who is really pulling the strings in Mexico.
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00:01Culiacán, Mexico.
00:03We've managed to get rare access to speak with members of the Sinaloa Cartel.
00:09...a los que se negaban por principios a matar a mujeres o niños.
00:13Ok, perfecto. Aquí están tus principios.
00:17For more than two years, two factions of the Sinaloa Cartel have been at war with each other,
00:23locked in a fight for dominance.
00:26They tell us how they helped the state governor win an election by intimidating his rivals.
00:41Residents are caught between the front lines.
00:49Those who have had relatives killed feel betrayed by the people who were supposed to protect themselves.
01:13We're on our way to the scene of a reported killing.
01:16We just learned that this was a targeted assassination. This is what it seems like.
01:21Apparently it was a hospital worker on lunch break when armed men approached him here on the street and executed
01:27him on the spot.
01:29Grief and disbelief among friends and family.
01:32We're all killed. We can't get out of here.
01:37Because they killed a lot of innocent people.
01:41We get another call. An incident in a different part of town.
01:47Heading there, we pass this house, damaged from an earlier attack.
01:51The pizza graffiti, a symbol of the chapitos, also called chapisa.
02:06A shootout happened here just a few minutes ago and we can still see the bullet cases on the ground.
02:11Now they're cording off the area.
02:14But this is a residential home and it was apparently…
02:18Yes, okay. Yeah, we're leaving.
02:20So this was apparently an attempted assassination on someone who's been living here.
02:29The army arrives to secure the scene in case of a revenge attack.
02:37It's dangerous to speak!
02:38I'm not going to throw a bunch of your gun.
02:39I'm not going to throw it out here.
02:40It's dangerous to speak here.
02:41I'm not going to throw it out here.
02:41But you can't throw it out here.
02:41It's getting more dangerous than before?
02:44Yes, I'm going to throw it out here.
02:45He hesitates.
02:47Just as I leave he says…
02:49It's dangerous to speak here.
02:50… a phrase we'll be hearing more often.
03:02The war between the two factions of the Sinaloa cartel erupted in 2024, after the sons of drug
03:09kingpin El Chapo, called Chapitos, helped facilitate the arrest of Ismael El Mayo Zambada,
03:15leader of the rival Mayos. Since then, the Chapitos and the Mayos have been fighting each other.
03:22Thousands have been killed. Disappearances have surged.
03:29In April this year, the US Justice Department accused the governor of the state of Sinaloa,
03:35Ruben Rocha-Moya, along with nine other former and current government officials, of drug trafficking
03:41and aiding the cartel in exchange for bribes. It says Governor Rocha-Moya promised to protect
03:49the Chapitos as they distributed massive quantities of drugs to the US and allowed them to operate
03:55with impunity. In exchange, the Chapitos allegedly helped him get elected by kidnapping and intimidating his rivals.
04:13Around a hundred politicians and activists were kidnapped shortly before the governor's election.
04:18One of them was Congresswoman Paola Garrate.
04:30She says it was a terrifying ordeal.
04:49They were taken from place to place across the city for hours before finally being released. Rocha-Moya won the
04:57election.
05:17The next day we meet again. Only recently, Paola began receiving round-the-clock protection because of a credible threat
05:25to her life.
05:28She tells me that just days ago she found a funeral wreath on her doorstep, a well-known death threat
05:34used by the cartel.
05:53She believes those in power have enabled the cartels' rise.
06:03She believes those in power have enabled the cartels' rise.
06:13She's now moving from house to house, but she says she won't be silenced.
06:19I can't resign myself to not be doing anything. And if that costs my life.
06:25If that happens, I'll do the right thing.
06:28I'm fighting for justice, for the truth, for the life, for the freedom.
06:40She's on her way to one of the most violent communities in Sinaloa.
06:53Villa Juarez is among the town's hardest hit by the ongoing conflict.
06:59Residents live with the constant risk of shootouts, killings, and roadblocks imposed by the cartels.
07:12Paola came here to listen. Residents feel abandoned by those in power.
07:18The school principal says students can't focus in class.
07:31They jump at every noise, she says. They've witnessed too many gunfights.
07:35Rooms.
07:36For the que debemos servir los diputados, pues, no pasar ahí de levantaderos aplaudiendo al poder a los corruptos.
07:44Sino al contrario, defendiéndolos a ustedes y los intereses de ustedes y lo que les duele a ustedes.
07:48Porque no nos merecemos vivir como estamos. No hay vida esto.
08:13Suddenly, we're told to move quickly.
08:42We want to understand the bigger picture behind the violence.
08:46Río Doce is one of the few investigative newspapers in Sinaloa.
08:52Its reporters have made enemies by exposing organized crime and corruption.
08:57The paper's co-founder, Javier Valdés Cárdenas, was killed by the cartel in 2017.
09:04Its other co-founder and director is Ismael Bojorquez.
09:08He spent decades documenting impunity.
09:31He says that's because security forces are overwhelmed by, on average, six homicides a day, but they've also been infiltrated
09:39by the cartel.
09:58He sees the government as responsible for allowing the cartels influence to grow to such a scale.
10:08The government opened the doors to the cartels to control the public work, the treasured areas, the human resources resources,
10:18the municipal services.
10:19It's a new phenomenon and dangerous, because then we would have to ask ourselves, with reason, who really sends out
10:29here?
10:29Or sends out the government or sends out the cartels?
10:41So we're now heading to a safe house at an undisclosed location.
10:45We've been told that they're essentially hitmen.
10:47So that means, given the current security situation here in Culiacán, that they're constantly at risk of being targeted, either
10:53by the rival faction or the army.
10:57The man we're about to meet belongs to the Chapitos faction.
11:00It took weeks to secure this meeting.
11:03Our contact tells us that we might be monitored, and this place could be raided any time.
11:10The Chapitos member is speaking to us on the condition that we hide his identity and his voice.
11:26I ask him if and how they helped Governor Rocha win his election.
11:50He explains the way they work with security forces.
12:13He says they get help moving drugs across checkpoints, and they even pretend to be police officers.
12:29The officers hand over rivals to them. Then they torture them, he says.
12:34Se le corta una oreja, se le pone un trapito y se le empieza a echar agua. Se le pone
12:39la bolsa de plástico.
12:41He says his organization spares no one.
12:45Son órdenes de los jefes. Nos dicen, oiga, ahí hay una vivienda. Quiero que vayan y maten a todos. Oiga,
12:52que hay familia. A todos. Mujeres, niños y también la mascota.
12:57¿Sabes cuántos años tenía el niño más menor?
13:00Diez años. No se percató de lo que estaba pasando.
13:03He was recruited as a teenager while working a part-time job. He says that if he refused to follow
13:10orders, he'd be killed.
13:14Siento remordimiento. Pero he visto qué les ocurría a los que se negaban por principios a matar a mujeres o
13:21niños.
13:22Ok, perfecto. Aquí están tus principios. Bam, bam.
13:26¿Quién en realidad controla a Sinaloa? ¿Son los carteles o el gobierno?
13:30Los carteles, lo he visto con mis propios ojos. Son los carteles los que mueven los hilos en el gobierno.
13:42¡Dios mío, castíganme con esto, castíganme con esto!
13:47Despite the pain around them, there are also moments like this.
13:51Almost every day, there's a dance party.
13:58The faces of missing people here too, a constant reminder.
14:07Just a few meters away, security forces prepare for a so-called public outreach operation.
14:17How is this situation now in Culiacán?
14:20It's not a lot, but we're doing what we can do.
14:23What is the biggest difficulty now?
14:25It's difficult because one as an authority looks at us and we don't look at them.
14:31That's why we put retenes.
14:33We're white.
14:36They're here to show the community they're present and approachable,
14:40handing out flyers with emergency contact numbers.
14:43As you can see, they're really making an effort to project a sense of security,
14:47despite daily disappearances and killings.
14:54What do you respond to people who have a family disappeared or murdered,
15:00and they say that they're not doing enough?
15:03Well, look, no time is lost for anything.
15:06There are many people who are connected to the bad life.
15:10And there are many people who seem to be disappeared.
15:13And there are many people who die?
15:15Yes, there are many people who die.
15:18They say that they work with the army,
15:20and the chapitos say that they work with the police.
15:25Respectively, we, as an authority,
15:27we don't work with any carter.
15:28We work for the people.
15:31We have military personnel,
15:33we have police officers,
15:34and we have the national guard.
15:35We are the three levels of government,
15:37we are coordinated very well,
15:39we have a good communication,
15:40and we attack what you're mentioning.
15:47According to a report by a public policy group,
15:50the number of disappearances in Mexico
15:52has more than tripled over the past decade.
15:55Today, more than 130,000 people are considered missing.
16:00Culiacán has become one of the epicenters
16:02of Mexico's disappearance crisis.
16:06A report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights found,
16:09there are indications that state security forces have been involved in some cases.
16:15The UN described these enforced disappearances as crimes against humanity.
16:23The Mexican government rejected the findings as biased.
16:36For Alma Aispuro, lightening a candle for her sister has become an important ritual.
16:45Vivian was her youngest sister, her best friend.
16:52In her room, time has stood still since she left her party over a year ago.
17:16But she won't come back.
17:18Vivian was murdered.
17:20Alma says the man who did it was linked to organized crime.
17:29It was so fun.
17:33It was so fun.
17:33I've never laughed at someone like her in my life.
17:36I've always been there for you.
17:38I mean, no matter what, no matter when, no matter if she was sick.
17:42She was always there for you.
17:44Today, she wants to show us the place where she believes her sister spent her final hours.
17:50By speaking with Vivian's friends, she was able to trace her steps after the party.
17:56It's here, it's in that blue house.
17:59It's this house.
18:04This is the window that I broke up to be able to enter the house.
18:12And someone can already come to live here in a place where they killed my sister.
18:21I've never had the value of coming here, but I know that I had to give her light.
18:38Eventually, authorities arrested the man.
18:41He's now awaiting trial.
18:43But Alma says many aspects of the investigation raised questions.
18:58She now fears he won't receive the maximum sentence because of his connections and wealth.
19:05Still, she has an answer.
19:08Thousands of others are still searching.
19:11These listings represent one of thousands of people who have disappeared in Culiacán.
19:18And here it says,
19:20Pedro, I'm still waiting for you. My heart is strange.
19:27After publicly criticizing the authorities over the way they handled Vivian's case, Alma began receiving threats.
19:42Since then, she has moved to another state, but she says she won't be silenced.
19:48Rocha, as governor, it was his duty to take care of us.
19:52And he did all the contrary.
19:54And that's why today Culiacán is full of blood.
19:57And the president covers what happened in Culiacán and says that we are fine.
20:02When the reality is that no one is fine.
20:04No one is fine.
20:17Alma isn't the only one criticizing Mexico's president Claudia Schoenbaum.
20:24The United States requested the extradition of Governor Rocha and the other officials accused of wrongdoing,
20:30but Schoenbaum refused to hand over her fellow party member.
20:35If there are no clear tests, it is evident that the objective of these imputations
20:42by the Department of Justice is political.
20:48While Rocha has temporarily stepped down as governor,
20:52observers say he remains in control behind the scenes.
20:57We contacted the Mexican president's office, the Sinaloa state government,
21:02and the security forces named in this report for comment, but did not receive a response.
21:11Journalist Ismael Bojorquez believes that Schoenbaum's decision not to hand over Rocha
21:16is a strategic calculation.
21:19No solamente Rocha estaría siendo acusado o investigado por los Estados Unidos.
21:24Seguramente están investigando al gobernador de Tamaulipas.
21:27Y seguramente están investigando a la gobernadora de Guerrero.
21:30Y es posible que a la gobernadora de Baja California,
21:33a la que ya le quitaron la visa.
21:34Lo dijo, creo que lo dijo en el meeting en la plaza.
21:37Les entrego a Rocha y luego al rato me van a pedir otro.
21:39Y luego me van a pedir otro y otro.
21:41Y sería un efecto dominó.
21:43Entonces, sí, ella está en un problema político muy grande.
21:50En Sinaloa, la gente vive con las consecuencias de una guerra que no había elegido.
21:56Una guerra que se ha permitido por la falta de instituciones.
22:00Y donde la línea entre el poder criminal y la autoridad oficial
22:04se crece increasingly blanca.
22:16De la manera…
22:17Y donde los prende la fuerza misma típica de la quien la ha asegurado por el Seven makingsted.
22:20Y donde tus blancos intentan qué hacían aquí.
22:21Y donde tus blancos intentan.
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